This team was absoulutly amazing in the 1980's. correct me if im wrong but one year they were actually ranked the 2nd best high school basketball team in the country! For those of you who don't know, Williamson high school is about 5-10 minutes from Belfry high school
Well they still have a team but they are not like what they use to be. Kids not wanting to go there is what hurts them the most i would say. Why go there when 10 minutes away is one of the best schools for sports in Eastern KY.
BatCat11 Wrote:Well they still have a team but they are not like what they use to be. Kids not wanting to go there is what hurts them the most i would say. Why go there when 10 minutes away is one of the best schools for sports in Eastern KY.
Good post!
They were strong until about 2003.. That was the last good team they had.. The last championship they won was 2001.. The Belfry/Williamson rivalry used to be one of the greatest rivalries in this area.. Even up til about 2003 the games would fill up the whole gym's. In the mid to early 90's the games would be completely sold out, not even standing room left at Belfry. People would be literally standing all along the ends of the court.. Williamson used to always be dominate, now most the students cross the river and come to Belfry for the better facilities..
BatCat11 Wrote:Well they still have a team but they are not like what they use to be. Kids not wanting to go there is what hurts them the most i would say. Why go there when 10 minutes away is one of the best schools for sports in Eastern KY.
Still doesn't answer what the original question was. Perhaps some kids are coming across, but they must be now only playing football. What happened to all of the great basketball players then? Belfry basketball has been far from being a dominant program.
IMHO Belfry is what happened to Williamson. My nephew played basketball for Williamson--he graduated in 2004, they were still pretty good then. Belfry gets alot of "transfers"--!! I don't know why their basketball program isn't better, I guess it is because they push football on everyone. Williamson has had many talented athletes and it is a shame to see such a decline.
Perhaps it is because of the declining enrollment at Williamson.
Williamson was double A in WV during the glory days.
It is a very small single A school now.
Transfers, declining city and economy in the area...there are several factors.
Pond creek nation Wrote:This team was absoulutly amazing in the 1980's. correct me if im wrong but one year they were actually ranked the 2nd best high school basketball team in the country! For those of you who don't know, Williamson high school is about 5-10 minutes from Belfry high school
The early 80's teams were the ones led by Mark Cline who later went on to play at Wake Forest. They were very good, but I dont think they were ever rated as high as the #2 team in the country. I remember that they had some epic and well publicized battles with the Todd May led Virgie teams at that time. Best I remember, Virgie came out on top of those games too. I know that Mark's family had a home at Lovely in Martin County, so he probably should have been a Sheldon Clark Cardinal to begin with. I'm sure that his friendship with Todd May had a little to do with Todd winding up at Wake Forest after he left UK.
FOX SPORTS Wrote:Perhaps it is because of the declining enrollment at Williamson.
Williamson was double A in WV during the glory days.
It is a very small single A school now.
Transfers, declining city and economy in the area...there are several factors.
Much is the same as with Logan High School. At one time Logan was one of the premeir basketball powers in all of West Virginia as well, no matter what class it was.
I think back in the day the belfry-williamson basketball rivalry was one of the best in the tri-state area. Mom my says she can remember when the williamson field house would have 4000-5000 people in it watching the games vs belfry, logan, pikeville, etc...
In my personal opinion the lack of talent at williamson high school,is due to different factors. one being the school system in general, and the other being new facilities. first, its hard to build programs when its not only students transferring across the river in high school but they transfer in at the elementary schools level that feed belfry. come and look at the license plates in the parking lot of all the parents coming to pick their children up and notice that many are from WV. At this age i am sure that parents are not changing schools for athletic reasons only. but for a better education offered in Kentucky.
Williamson used to be one of the dominant teams in the tri state area, but after steven turner(pg) graduated it gradually got worse and worse:flush: . But now williamson has really turned into a rebuilding state. But last year the Wolfpack showed some promise last year with dustin wilkerson and rj wells, but they dnt even play bball for williamson anymore .... so really dnt know how williamson will recover.
mrfootball03 Wrote:They were strong until about 2003.. That was the last good team they had.. The last championship they won was 2001.. The Belfry/Williamson rivalry used to be one of the greatest rivalries in this area.. Even up til about 2003 the games would fill up the whole gym's. In the mid to early 90's the games would be completely sold out, not even standing room left at Belfry. People would be literally standing all along the ends of the court.. Williamson used to always be dominate, now most the students cross the river and come to Belfry for the better facilities..
Belfry dominated, Coach Justice was something like 20-6 against Williamson when he was there, we lost one, maybe 2 games while I was there to Williamson from 93-97.
To answer the question, Mingo County is one of the worst school districts in the NATION so some of the kids go to Belfry.
Their peewee/midget league program is also as bad as it gets. Used to be kids from Belfry would go there to play youth basketball, now it is either non-existent or ran by those with interest other than all the kids.
Population is also dropped off a lot. Basketball players go to Logan or Tug Valley, football players come to Belfry.
I don't have the EXACT numbers but Belfry does NOT get as many as people think from across the Tug River, maybe 60 kids TOTAL K-12.
When Williamson was at their best was when Allan Hatcher was the head basketball coach there. They had a extreamly talented player named Mark Kline that went to Wake Forest on a full scholarship. After Kline graduated, Hatcher moved on to Marshall County and began his Kentucky coaching career, the program started to slowly decline after his departure.
Belive it or not when belfry plays williamson in basketball its still a decent game. But belfry still wins 90 percent of the time
Mr.Kimball Wrote:The early 80's teams were the ones led by Mark Cline who later went on to play at Wake Forest. They were very good, but I dont think they were ever rated as high as the #2 team in the country. I remember that they had some epic and well publicized battles with the Todd May led Virgie teams at that time. Best I remember, Virgie came out on top of those games too. I know that Mark's family had a home at Lovely in Martin County, so he probably should have been a Sheldon Clark Cardinal to begin with. I'm sure that his friendship with Todd May had a little to do with Todd winding up at Wake Forest after he left UK.
Cline lived in South Williamson, KY (Belfry feeder territory). He played in the Pike County Grade School tournament several times for South Williamson Panthers. He didnt attend Belfry for several reasons probably the biggest was that his older brother was not rehired after only one year of coaching at the school. This happened a couple of yrs before Mark was to enter BHS, and left a deep whole in what was to be BHS' 1st regional championship group. His dad did own a home down there (Coal mine operator) but Mark rarely stayed there. Williamson actually beat Virgie at Williamson however Todd May only played about half the game due to foul trouble.:popcorn:
Todd May and Mark Kline played aginst each other their Jr and Sr seasons, Kline won the battle in their Jr year, and May won in the Sr battle.
JMEWLS Wrote:Todd May and Mark Kline played aginst each other their Jr and Sr seasons, Kline won the battle in their Jr year, and May won in the Sr battle.
May and Cline were not in the same class. May was a class of 82 grad while Cline was a 1983 grad. I agree that the two teams split however if I am not mistaken it happened in the same year. It could have been that the two games were in the 82 and 83 seasons. ( not really sure) I am getting gettin old LOL
SpyDa Wrote:Cline lived in South Williamson, KY (Belfry feeder territory). He played in the Pike County Grade School tournament several times for South Williamson Panthers. He didnt attend Belfry for several reasons probably the biggest was that his older brother was not rehired after only one year of coaching at the school. This happened a couple of yrs before Mark was to enter BHS, and left a deep whole in what was to be BHS' 1st regional championship group. His dad did own a home down there (Coal mine operator) but Mark rarely stayed there. Williamson actually beat Virgie at Williamson however Todd May only played about half the game due to foul trouble.:popcorn:
Cline did live in South Williamson and played for my father.
Here is what has happened to Williamson:
1. This one is in a class all its own. ENROLLMENT. The town of Williamson is struggling to survive. Most people who move into the area will ultimately move to the Kentucky side if they have the opportunity and why wouldn't they?!?!?! Better academics, better facilities, and much more $ for funding and support.
2. Feeder System and Grass-roots. In Williamson's prime they had numerous feeder schools (Town, East End, Liberty, West End, WMS, Nolan, Chattaroy). Heck, when I was in 4th grade my first team was West End even though I went to school at Varney Elementary in KY. Additionally, the coaching support is nearly non-existent like it used to be, and AAU teams have been a rare occurance save the class with G Gregory and Little Anthony Strotter.
3. Coaching Turnaround. David Hatfield was the architect of those great Williamson teams. He eventually came to Belfry during the time his daughter attended High School there. After he left Williamson they still had success under Curt Fletcher, but that success can DEFINATELY be more attributed to that class of players with Gregory, Hannah, etc, and not so much Flecther's coaching ability.
4. Sharing the Wealth. Williamson sued to ahve the monopoly on basketball talent in Mingo County. Burch had sporadic talented teams during the 80's and 90's, but by and large it was understood that if you were talented and wanted to be a winner you played for Williamson. About the same time that Williamson started to experience the first effects of dropping enrollement coincided perfectly with the emergence of Tug Valley as a state title contender. With no intent of bringing race into the issue, but needing to point out the facts, the general consensus was that Williamson became a "thug school" and thus several prominent businessmen opted to send their kids to predominantly white Williamson and Tug Valley. Gilbert has also seen a massive increase in their success on the hardwood as the same effect has happened with Matewan.
The sad reality is I do not see this changing anytime in the near future, if ever. Too much apathy at WHS, coupled with severely depleted funds and enrollment.
NEXT Wrote:Belfry dominated, Coach Justice was something like 20-6 against Williamson when he was there, we lost one, maybe 2 games while I was there to Williamson from 93-97.
To answer the question, Mingo County is one of the worst school districts in the NATION so some of the kids go to Belfry.
Their peewee/midget league program is also as bad as it gets. Used to be kids from Belfry would go there to play youth basketball, now it is either non-existent or ran by those with interest other than all the kids.
Population is also dropped off a lot. Basketball players go to Logan or Tug Valley, football players come to Belfry.
I don't have the EXACT numbers but Belfry does NOT get as many as people think from across the Tug River, maybe 60 kids TOTAL K-12.
Very true. I can remember my 8th Grade AAU team for Belfry and probably over 75% had played basketball in a West Virginia league at some point.
As I stated above. The only AAU or travelling All-Star teams that have pertained to Williamson in the last 10 years have been specific to one group of players and to Anthony Strotter, Jr (and his team was nearly exclusively players from outside of Mingo County).
Mr.Kimball Wrote:Much is the same as with Logan High School. At one time Logan was one of the premeir basketball powers in all of West Virginia as well, no matter what class it was.
Logan still has good teams. It just seems to be more cyclical at Logan, a direct impact of decreasing population and negative impacts on the coal mining industry.
EKUAlum05 Wrote:Very true. I can remember my 8th Grade AAU team for Belfry and probably over 75% had played basketball in a West Virginia league at some point.
As I stated above. The only AAU or travelling All-Star teams that have pertained to Williamson in the last 10 years have been specific to one group of players and to Anthony Strotter, Jr (and his team was nearly exclusively players from outside of Mingo County).
He is ballin it up in Cincy now, and getting some pretty good looks. I played against him back in the day haha.
EKUAlum05 Wrote:Here is what has happened to Williamson:
1. This one is in a class all its own. ENROLLMENT. The town of Williamson is struggling to survive. Most people who move into the area will ultimately move to the Kentucky side if they have the opportunity and why wouldn't they?!?!?! Better academics, better facilities, and much more $ for funding and support.
2. Feeder System and Grass-roots. In Williamson's prime they had numerous feeder schools (Town, East End, Liberty, West End, WMS, Nolan, Chattaroy). Heck, when I was in 4th grade my first team was West End even though I went to school at Varney Elementary in KY. Additionally, the coaching support is nearly non-existent like it used to be, and AAU teams have been a rare occurance save the class with G Gregory and Little Anthony Strotter.
3. Coaching Turnaround. David Hatfield was the architect of those great Williamson teams. He eventually came to Belfry during the time his daughter attended High School there. After he left Williamson they still had success under Curt Fletcher, but that success can DEFINATELY be more attributed to that class of players with Gregory, Hannah, etc, and not so much Flecther's coaching ability.
4. Sharing the Wealth. Williamson sued to ahve the monopoly on basketball talent in Mingo County. Burch had sporadic talented teams during the 80's and 90's, but by and large it was understood that if you were talented and wanted to be a winner you played for Williamson. About the same time that Williamson started to experience the first effects of dropping enrollement coincided perfectly with the emergence of Tug Valley as a state title contender. With no intent of bringing race into the issue, but needing to point out the facts, the general consensus was that Williamson became a "thug school" and thus several prominent businessmen opted to send their kids to predominantly white Williamson and Tug Valley. Gilbert has also seen a massive increase in their success on the hardwood as the same effect has happened with Matewan.
The sad reality is I do not see this changing anytime in the near future, if ever. Too much apathy at WHS, coupled with severely depleted funds and enrollment.
Really??????
Leonidas Wrote:Really??????
Trophy case.... Hatfield took Williamson to Chrleston basically every year he was coaching and his the tophies to prove it.
Williamson Basketball was in great shape in the early to mid 2000's. What happened was the high schools attendance shot way down when Belfry got the new high school, and kids also transferred to Matween and Tug Valley. Coach Fletcher is still a great coach he just doesn't have much to work with. Last I can remember his last team he had that was productive was in the year 2005.
Actually Mark and his family lived in South Williamson,KyI think his dad had a farm in Martin County.
Mr.Kimball Wrote:The early 80's teams were the ones led by Mark Cline who later went on to play at Wake Forest. They were very good, but I dont think they were ever rated as high as the #2 team in the country. I remember that they had some epic and well publicized battles with the Todd May led Virgie teams at that time. Best I remember, Virgie came out on top of those games too. I know that Mark's family had a home at Lovely in Martin County, so he probably should have been a Sheldon Clark Cardinal to begin with. I'm sure that his friendship with Todd May had a little to do with Todd winding up at Wake Forest after he left UK.
ib4mtigers Wrote:Actually Mark and his family lived in South Williamson,KyI think his dad had a farm in Martin County.
Mark is now coaching at Oklahoma.
NEXT Wrote:Cline did live in South Williamson and played for my father.
Did your dad win a county championship like you?
SpyDa Wrote:Did your dad win a county championship like you?
His players did. I won one as a player in 92', our(Belfry) kids won one this year.